Welcome to the second story of my CEO story contest. I announced our CEO story contest on August 5, 2011 (Read the announcement here). You can read Story #1: The CEO’s son from last week. If you don’t want to miss next week’s final story, don’t forget to sign up (click the “Sign Me Up” button on the right of your screen).
For the week starting Monday October 3, 2011 – you will have the chance to vote for your favorite CEO story. The author of the story with the most votes will win a Blackberry Playbook.
Thank you to all those who participated in the contest.
Samuel
I am the
One May, with our next Board meeting scheduled for the following week and the Board package still not ready, I had to work over my wedding anniversary weekend. To say that my wife was a little frosty on my return that Sunday evening would be more than a slight understatement. The next morning I canvassed the metro-sexuals in the office and discovered that spa days were how they liked to spend quality time with their significant others. While the thought of lounging around in a bathrobe did not appeal to me, I knew I had to take action. I called my wife and rather than the usual friendly “hello”, was greeted with a rather abrupt “what?” I ignored her tone and suggested that although we missed our anniversary weekend, would a day at the spa be something she would consider? I detected a softening in her voice and I forwarded her the spa’s website. She called back later that morning and rather excitedly told me how great the spa looked. It was about an hour and a half drive into the country and offered countless choices to pamper ourselves. I left the planning to her.
The rest of the week passed quickly and a sense of dread only came over me when we checked into the spa at 8:30 in the morning. We were led into a beautiful wood-beamed room with a Jacuzzi for two in one corner, and two massage tables in the center, each covered with white crisp sheets. Our hostess carried a tray with two glasses of red wine, a plate of assorted fruit and what appeared to be two neatly folded napkins. As she left, she told us how to prepare for our first treatment – a full body exfoliation. “Take your clothes off, put on the disposable underwear provided, and wait for your masseuse who will come by shortly”. At the time, I didn’t know what a full body exfoliation was but it sounded a lot like a bitter dose of payback to me. I opened the napkins left on the tray and discovered they were paper thongs. I asked my wife which way it should be worn and I think I detected a slight smile on her face. My mind was racing. If I lay on my stomach, wouldn’t it make more sense to wear the thong back to front in order to cover the more vulnerable areas? As I considered my options, I noticed that my wife’s ever so slight smile was turning into a stifled laugh. I asked if I could use her thong as well. Why not wear both? One front to back, the other back to front – my best chance at some sort of modesty. The request was denied and my wife could no longer contain herself. What followed was uncontrollable laughter that I found in my panicky state to be somewhat contagious.
I don’t remember much of what happened that day but I can tell you that paper thongs, no matter which way they are worn, just don’t work with male anatomy. I also remember that even though I had yet to have breakfast, I was grateful for the wine our hostess had left, and for the refills she continued to bring throughout the day. And I do remember coming home late in the afternoon, in the passenger seat of our car, being in no condition to drive, and my wife at the wheel with an oddly serene and contented expression on her face that could only mean forgiveness.
On the following Monday morning I retrieved my souvenir from the spa and carefully unfolded the paper thong on the CEO’s desk. “This” I declared, “is the reason why we have to hire a new controller”. Our tests now measure perseverance and a sense of urgency and although our new controller sometimes misses a deadline, I know that he always tries his best and is very disappointed if he delivers late. My wife and I have not been back to the spa since that memorable weekend, but we recently celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary in Italy, and I consider myself lucky to enjoy what I suspect fellow, happily married CFOs have – a forgiving and understanding spouse.